Sky, Mediaset in race for Italy's TV football rights

Sky and Italian broadcaster Mediaset have made bids in an auction of TV broadcasting rights for Italy's top flight Serie A football matches, a source close to the championship league said on Wednesday.
The Italian Serie A League kicked off a new bidding round for the 2018-2021 season rights earlier this month after it cancelled a contract awarding them to the to Spanish multimedia group Mediapro.
The decision was taken as the Barcellona-based, but Chinese-owned, group had failed to present the necessary bank guarantees.
Mediapro had been expected to auction off the rights to other operators but its tender was also cancelled by a Milan judge in May on grounds that it breached antitrust rules. This followed a legal challenge from Sky's Italian subsidiary.
Mediapro did not take part in Wednesday's auction for the rights of the 400 matches, the source said, adding that British-based sports media group Perform was also one of the bidders.
The process to award the rights to Italy's main football championship has been going on for over a year.
The 2018 season of Italy's Serie A, which ended in May, was aired by both Sky's Italian subsidiary and Mediaset's pay-Tv arm Premium.
Bids for...

Full story